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New Zealand

I don't know if anyone wants to know about an ordinary Kiwi bloke on an extraordinary voyage which began in 1995.

Having joined the peace flotilla to Mururoa when the French were nuclear testing. Two months and a half later I arrived back in NZ on the Aquila D'Oro a changed man. I had just witnessed a detonation twice the size of Hiroshima of course underground but to see the people come behind those extraordinary people and their boats and force France to change its stance on nuclear testing was empowering.

I volunteered for Greenpeace NZ doing actions afterwards on the Tasman Pulp and Paper Mill near where I grew up. The use of chlorine bleach and the legacy of using a river to dump toxic waste into a place called the Bay of Plenty by Captain Cook and Matata by the Maori. When visiting friends from the region, when I was home recently, they told me that they understood the dioxin level had dropped from 3.0 kgs per day to 0.03 per day. The power of protest????

I joined the Arctic Sunrise in March 1997 as a volunteer.

Today 19 trips later with Greenpeace having plied most of the world's oceans I find myself back in the Southern Ocean. Once again marvelling at nature but having come to witness an atrocity. If we cannot invoke the power necessary to halt whaling in a Southern Ocean Sanctuary then I am very concerned for the youth of today and tomorrow.

I am here for that 8 year old girl that I met in Maine, East Coast US on an open day on the Rainbow Warrior, just before we sailed into New York on Sept 11th 2001 whose mother told me she gives all her pocket money to Greenpeace to save the Whales.

In a book about how over fishing is changing the world and what we eat called The End Of The Line by Charles Clover there is a quote, a very relevant quote by some John L. Culliney........

"The oceans are the planet's last great wilderness, man's only remaining frontier on Earth, and perhaps his last chance to prove himself a rational species".

Hey Phil ...Merry Christmas from us in Taupo, NZ .... following your journey everyday - wishing you and everyone else a safe return

nickmelamileslani xx

hey phil.
hope your doing well.. its looks like you guys will have a few more tough moments before the trips end. goodluck with everything.
wishing you a safe journey.
cheers, sam. (melbourne, australia)

Hoi Phil-man,
You're doing a great job together with your mates o/b the Espy (& Sunrise). Hope to catch-up afterwards & shout you a beer (or two).
Cheers,
Rien
peace

Philster, Thanks for being out there for us all, you are doing a fantastic job, we are with you eveary steep of the way!
will be haven one or two for ya tonight.
all the best to you and the crew
Cheers
The Allans xxx

Hiya Bro :)
Happy New Year xxx
Our thoughts and aroha are with you all the way.

Jos & Suzi

Hey Bro,

Following your battles daily. Keep at them. See ya home soon.

Ryan, Rach, Luke, Rowan & Riley